Special thanks to Knut Kampe (1st sample) and Oliver Kirchner (2nd sample) for providing this lens!

Introduction

The Pentax SMC-FA 35mm f/2 and its clone, the Samsung D-Xenogon 35mm f/2 AL, are two of
the few survivors from the full frame lens era in Pentax land. It isn't yet clear how
long its story will go on but the Samsung variant is actually a fairly recently released
lens so the chances are good that the community can benefit from this relatively affordable
lens (~300-400€/US$) for a while longer. It has a field-of-view equivalent to about
53mm when used on today's APS-C DSLRs. As such it is basically a "normal" lens within this scope.

The build quality of the lens is good but not comparable to the Pentax Limited
lenses (which are also a magnitude more expensive) in this range. The small
rubberized focus ring operates very smooth. The lens extends about 1cm when focusing
towards the most extreme close focus distance. The front element does not rotate so
using a polarizer is not a problem.

The FA 35mm f/2 AL has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw
operated by the camera. As a result AF operation will generate a moderate
degree of noise. The AF speed is very fast on the K10D.